~ A garden set in the Wye Valley

A Room with a View ….

When I’m asked why I made this garden I reply I simply wanted a room with a view, not not just for myself but for the dogs who were otherwise fixated by any passing interest on the lane so they might enjoy a volley of woofs. Airedales are like that😉.

The gentle, rocky slope in front of the house 2007

Personally, I was fed up with looking up the awkward rocky slope to the gates across from the drive lined with parked cars, not to mention the yellow sticker on the neighbouring electricity pole. Arcadia, it was not.

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won’t do harm – yes, choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.”
― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

It took me several years to grow the mainstay of hundred of grasses : standard forms of Calamagrostis x acutiflora.

This was the ground preparation for planting our grasses in 2007. It was a lot of hard work.

Year after year I divided them out, while their numbers increased, it gave me time to figure out what I’d plant with them and how I’d arrange them to create a view that felt in keeping with the gentle valley slope. It also had to look good for most of the year with as little extra help from me as possible.

Knowing the slope was exposed to each and every passing wind, I didn’t want plants that would keel over with the slightest gust nor those that gave up the ghost in high summer. I wanted something that was so very simple, so pared down to the essentials, that the view would delight me in each and every passing season.

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As a bemused friend observed in the late summer of the terraces’ first year in 2012, “but” it is just the same plants in lines with the odd block of Periscaria amplexicaulis thrown in for bee friendly colour. Her “but” lodged in my mind, because, yes, the planting was really that unsophisticated.

For at least 10 months of the year I have my longed for room with a simplified view and we are all quietly contented. From late summer through autumn the planting sings its dazzling technicolour aria accompanied by the joyful thrum of happy bees.

But, to be honest, the reason I’m writing this now is that, one of our very dear dogs is so very unwell I really can’t say if she will make it or not. So much of this garden has been built around the two of them. Our two furry tanks have been such an inspiration.

Thank you, Dorris, you are kind as ever. The garden has worked really well for all of us, just ironic that it takes something like this for me to fully appreciate our four-legged friends part in it all.

Such a lot to be said for working from the views of the garden from the house outwards. After all, for much of the year this is what we see and enjoy on a daily basis. I seem to remember Nancy Ondra, among others, talking about this years ago.

What a lovely garden you’ve created…Simplicity really is the best, and so hard to achieve effectively…Sorry to hear one of your pups is unwell. He’s a very fortunate one to have such an inspired place to call home : )

Your garden is exceptional and you should be proud of the achievement. I realised a few years back that it’s not possible to have a garden looking good for twelve months of the year. Instead one needs to focus on three to four months as stunning and then the rest of the year it can be simply good. For me it’s May June July when it has to knock socks off and the rest of the year it is simply good enough. I do hope Poppy is getting better.

What interesting questions you pose, perhaps I think that mostly we take landscapes/views for granted …. If something is ‘beautiful’, to the viewer on a given day, maybe that’s enough? Or not? Cutting through the cultural muddle to reveal our preconceptions, if not harmful prejudices, is something at which E.M.Foertser excelled?

A remarkably beautiful outcome to clever and hard work, Kate. The photo of your two dogs playing stole my heart. And then I read that one of them is unwell. That’s tough, and I’m so sorry to hear it. Please give her a hug and a head rub for me.

I’m so sorry about your dog and keep my fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. We too love ours, she’s a great companion be it in the garden, on a photo session or beside me at my desk. It’s such a worry when they’re sick and one can’t help but be sick with them. I love your garden room, such a success. Sitting there, looking up that slope with all the drama and movement inspiration is in the air…I think you should write a book abou the garden, the dogs, your philosophy, Kate.

What an extraordinarily kind and thoughtful comment, thank you Annette. Poppy has recovered well from the operation. Life as a one-eyed dog doesn’t seem to phase her … have to admire the way dogs live in the here and now, dreaming of chasing rabbits but happy to settle for a biscuit.

My husband says there’s a good chance of full recovery as -like testicle cancer- this type of tumour usually doesn’t spread, so fingers crossed xx ( he’s a vet by the way and a good one too…very handy when you have animals like we do ;) )

Oh dear. So sorry to hear your latest news. Our golden retriever Arnie had the same cancer (third time) in May and after much soul searching we decided to operate. He recovered really well and fingers crossed, nothing has returned. We hope we have given him another two years at least. Really feel for you. x

Oh Kate, I’m so sorry to hear about poor Poppy. But your garden is breathtakingly beautiful and is a testament to the less is more approach. I just love the backlit shimmering grasses against the block of green trees. Sending best wishes to you all.

Thank you for your kind wishes and sympathy, we are making sure her remaining days are golden ones. Just to think that the shimmering grassy screen acts like a curtain to dissuade the dogs from woofing at the passing traffic on the lane makes me smile fondly at my furry muses.